Music and the Fictive Dream - HBO's Euphoria - I'm Tired

 If you have never seen the television show Euphoria created by Sam Levinson, the main premise is that it follows a group of high schoolers and how they deal with trauma, drugs, sex, and social media. A large part of this show, and what ultimately ties it together is the music. The whole score for the show was created by Labrinth. If you have not had a chance to watch this wonderful rollercoaster of a show, it is most defiantly worth the watch. I have known people to finally give it a try and end up loving it. HBO created a masterpiece with this one.

"I'm Tired" written specifically for Euphoria (season 2, episode 4) by Sam Levinson, Labrinth, and Zendaya was released on February 28th, 2022. The song was also nominated for an Emmy for outstanding original music and lyrics award. To give backstory, in an article posted by popsugar.com, "Toward the end of the episode, following a fight with Jules, an already-high Rue dips into her suitcase of drugs to sell and takes multiple pills. After this, Rue tiredly walks into a church, surrounded by people, including Jules and Elliot, and embraces the choir leader (Labrinth) as he passionately sings "I'm Tired." While hugging him, Rue is hallucinating that she is embracing her father, and she apologizes for her wrongdoings. The church and Rue's reunion with her father, combined with the amount of drugs she's taken, allude to her potentially overdosing, but we won't know the outcome until the next episode." This song really speaks volumes because it can be relatable to anyone and the song is melodic and gets stuck in your head easily. 


Euphoria as a whole is driven completely by music. Labrinth has even said that Sam Levinson said he did not need any extra direction because he was spot on just seeing the visuals of the show. Some of the other songs on the show are specific to that character and each time something to do with them is happening, a portion of their score will play. In example, "Nate Growing Up", "Kat's Denial", "Maddy's Story" and so on. According to an article posted by valleymagazinepsu.com, "“I always write to music,” said writer and director Sam Levinson on the show’s YouTube channel in 2019. As he was writing “Euphoria,” his inspiration for the score was Danny Elfman, industrial music composer, with hints of “Yeezus” and “gospel.” Each and every piece of music is handpicked for this show and fits each scene with perfect calculation and foreshadowing. 

The use of old, new, and everything in between really makes this show not only a musical masterpiece, but a visual one as well. Labrinth uses his amazing skill of genre blending between gospel, orchestral, smooth jazz, hip hip, electronic, soul, r&b, jungle, and melodic house music. The show did win the Ivor Novello Award in 2020 for best television soundtrack. The social commentary around the show and its music is positive for the majority. I will post links below to some reviews others have written about the show.

Reviews of the music from the show

 https://variety.com/2019/music/reviews/album-euphoria-labrinth-original-score-1203359362/

https://meteamedia.org/16091/entertainment/euphorias-soundtrack-makes-you-feel-something-2/


References

Diaz, C., & Caroline Diaz                                                                                                      Caroline Diaz is a junior at Penn State University studying Broadcast Journalism with a focus on Political Science. On an average day. (2022, February 11). Euphoria: The story behind the music. VALLEY Magazine. http://www.valleymagazinepsu.com/euphoria-the-story-behind-the-music/

Geigel, A. (2022, January 31). You can now listen to Labrinth’s “I’m tired” from “euphoria” in its entirety. Popsugar. https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/labrinth-im-tired-from-euphoria-lyrics-meaning-48700077

Marks, L. (2019, October 4). How Labrinth created the perfect soundtrack for HBO’s “euphoria.” Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/labrinth-zendaya-euphoria-soundtrack-hbo-893594/

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, November 17). Euphoria (original score from the HBO series). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphoria_(Original_Score_from_the_HBO_Series)

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024a, February 11). I’m tired. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Tired

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024b, April 10). Labrinth. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrinth

Labrinth & Zendaya - I’m tired (from “euphoria” an HBO original series – lyric video). YouTube. (2022, February 28). https://youtu.be/ZFe55-p7XJc?si=-OP3hrPcq75nnR3l

Comments

  1. HattieApril 11, 2024 at 4:36 PM

    Beautiful song, thank you for sharing! I have seen this show and did not know the show is intended to follow the music. The song “I’m tired” gives beautiful life to an ugly situation, as you describe in your social commentary. The combination of the church, hallucinated embrace between Rue and her deceased Father, do allude to death by overdose. I honor the power of this song and the meaning behind it. The song powerfully showcases the calculation and foreshadowing, as you say. I investigated the lyrics, which I will attach at the end of my comment. Haunting words that back your theory:
    “Hey Lord, you know I’m fighting
    Hey, Lord you know I’ll find it
    I don’t know when or how today
    Hey, Lord I’m on my way”
    https://genius.com/Labrinth-and-zendaya-im-tired-lyrics

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paityn JamesApril 12, 2024 at 6:19 AM

    this was a beautiful song choice for this show, I also this show I highly recommend watching it. I feel that everyone goes through some hard stuff in high school and always has a friend group that ends up not being so good for you in the long run either. This group of friends was highly messed up on everyone's end. This song truly played through the music and lyrics as well as the instruments and the soothing sound of the melody on how tired Rue really was and how she thought she had nothing left in her felt so she ran back to the drugs. also as said by Hattie that the lyrics made me tear up while watching the movie when it said "Hey lord Im on my way" A few people I knew in high school Overdosed because they though they had nothing left and this movie really put into perspective on that sometimes people think drugs is there last resort and there way out of their heads.

    ReplyDelete

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